South London, UK · oi! · punk

The Business

1 upcoming festival

Oi! played straight down the middle — no politics beyond solidarity, no frills beyond the chorus, South London to the bone.

The Business formed in south London in 1979 and became one of the defining bands of the Oi! movement, alongside groups such as Cockney Rejects and the 4-Skins. Fronted for most of their history by Micky Fitz, who died in 2016, they played terrace-chant punk built on shouted choruses, straightforward riffs and songs about work, football and street life.

The band consistently rejected the far-right associations that dogged the genre in the early 1980s, and titles such as "Harry May" and "Smash the Discos" remain staples of the style. Their records have been widely covered by later street-punk and hardcore bands.

oi!punk